People
First African American president of the United States
Barack Obama
The first Black athlete to play Major League Baseball after joining the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
Jackie Robinson
At the age of six, she became the first African American student to integrate an elementary school in the South.
Ruby Bridges
Won the Oscar for her role in the movie Ghost
Whoopi Goldberg
Who is the creator of Kwanzaa?
Dr. Maulana Karenga
She became the first Black woman elected to Congress
Shirley Chisholm
The first woman ever to attempt a quadruple jump in Olympic figure skating when she landed a four-revolution jump. It did not count for the scoring.
Surya Bonaly
The first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987.
Aretha Franklin
Billionaire media executive and philanthropist and best known for hosting her own internationally popular talk show from 1986 to 2011.
Oprah Winfrey
Brown v. Board of Education Topeka
A landmark 1954 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional.
Established Negro History Week in February of 1926
Carter G. Woodson
Gymnast who became the first African American in Olympic history to win the individual all-around event at the 2012 Summer Games.
Gabby Douglas
This woman's autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, is the first non-fiction work by an African-American woman to make the best-seller list.
Maya Angelou
Earned popular and critical acclaim for his roles in an array of feature films, including 'Glory,' 'Malcolm X,' 'Training Day' and 'Fences.'
Denzel Washington
What was the informal system that helped slaves escape to the North during the mid-1800s?
Underground Railroad
In 1955, he was murdered for being accused of offending a white woman working in her family’s grocery store.
Emmett Till
Opened a school called “I Promise” which currently houses 240 at-risk third and fourth-grade students in his hometown.
Lebron James
What was the nickname for the first all-Black 332d Fighter Group of the U.S. Army Air Corps?
Tuskegee Airman
She is the first African American woman to create and executive produce a Top 10 network series—the medical drama Grey's Anatomy.
Shonda Rhimes
Who played the role Black Panther in the movie Black Panther?
Chad Boseman
Became a symbol of racial tension in America, after his beating by Los Angeles police officers in 1991 was videotaped and broadcast to the nation.
Rodney King
In 2016, he knelt during the national anthem at the start of NFL games in protest of police brutality and racial inequality in the United States.
Colin Kaepernick
Who was the first African-American Miss America?
Vanessa Williams
The first black person to own and head a major film studio.
Tyler Perry
What group of students were famous for challenging school segregation in the deep south?
Little Rock Nine